The invention relates to an arrangement for the optional forming of stacks from several products, conveyed successively along a conveying path, and/or for changing the sequence of products, conveyed successively along a conveying path, the arrangement comprising a conveying device for conveying the products and at least one lifting apparatus for picking up the products along the conveying path from the conveying device and subsequently depositing them, wherein the lifting apparatus is designed as an up and down moving lifting element which picks up the products from the underside.
An arrangement of the aforementioned type has been in use at the Axel Springer Publishing House in Darmstadt, Germany, for processing stacked printed products.
The aforementioned arrangement consists of a narrow conveying belt, extending across a table, on which stacks are formed from bundled magazines. For this, a separate, height-adjustable fork is provided on both sides of the conveying belt and this fork is inserted underneath the magazine bundles, which project on both sides over the conveying belt that is stopped during the stacking operation, and lifts up these bundles. Thus, the lifted-up magazine bundle can then be lowered onto the subsequently arriving bundle during the following conveying step. The forks, which are arranged opposite each other on both sides of the conveying belt, are lifted up jointly by means of a synchronously driven toothed belt.